Religion News: Restriction scores rise in US, world

Thursday

Sep 27, 2012 at 12:01 AMSep 27, 2012 at 4:05 PM

Because some of the most restrictive countries are very populous, three-quarters (75 percent) of the world’s approximately 7 billion people live in countries with high government restrictions on religion or high social hostilities involving religion, up from 70 percent a year earlier.

A new study, by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, finds that the share of countries with high or very high restrictions on religion rose from 31 percent in the year ending in mid-2009 to 37 percent in the year ending in mid-2010.

Because some of the most restrictive countries are very populous, three-quarters (75 percent) of the world’s approximately 7 billion people live in countries with high government restrictions on religion or high social hostilities involving religion, up from 70 percent a year earlier.

A rising level of restrictions occurred in each of the five major regions of the world. In three regions – Europe, the Middle East-North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa – the median levels of both government restrictions and social hostilities increased from mid-2009 to mid-2010. In the Americas, the median level of government restrictions increased, while in the Asia-Pacific region, the median level of social hostilities increased.

During the latest year studied, the U.S. moved from the low category of government restrictions on religion to the moderate category for the first time. In the year ending in mid-2010, there was an increase in the number of incidents in the U.S. at the state and local level in which members of some religious groups faced restrictions on their ability to practice their faith. This included incidents in which individuals were prevented from wearing certain religious attire or symbols, including beards, in some judicial settings or in prisons, penitentiaries or other correctional facilities. Some religious groups in the U.S. also faced difficulties in obtaining zoning permits to build or expand houses of worship, religious schools or other religious institutions.

The U.S. also experienced an increase in social hostilities involving religion during this same period. A key factor behind the increase was a spike in religion-related terrorist attacks in the U.S. The increase also reflects a rise in the number of reported religion-related workplace discrimination complaints.

-- ReligionNews.com

Week in Religion

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The Word

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